Anxi, Fujian: Levying “Xiaojie Tax” With No Fault – Legal Daily

A story about a hidden rules of the game in China. Translated by CDT from Legal Daily:

A 5,000-word article, “serving the people, Anxi (安溪)’s tax bureau breaks down Singaporean firm,” popped up on Internet forums after the October week-long holiday last year. Wang Quancheng (王泉成), the Singaporean Chinese and leading character in the article, offended his local tax authorities due to his lack of understanding of the rules of the game, or the “under-the-table rules.” Opening up Anxi County’s first four-star hotel Mingyuan (明园大酒店), Wang returned to his hometown to establish his business. But he is not a fan of “taking care of” tax officials and often refused to treat the cadres with free, fancy meals (霸王餐).

The hotel alleges the county tax bureau owed 18,000 yuan in meals and hotel stays but couldn’t collect the receivables after numerous attempts. When one day a hotel employee went up to the tax bureau for the payment, he was slammed for “not understanding who’s the boss (不识相).” Soon, the tax bureau and the city tax inspection bureau made an allegedly retaliatory raid on the hotel and left a few tickets, totaling 1.87 million yuan fines in “urban property taxes” and “xiaojie taxes (小姐税).” (Xiaojie, literally “miss,” also is a euphemism for “prostitutes” and such.)